“At 1st I thought of saying, ‘Imagine being told your house of faith isn’t safe anymore.’ But I couldn’t say ‘imagine.’ Because of Charleston. Pittsburgh. Sutherland Springs. What good are your thoughts & prayers when they don’t even keep the pews safe?”

At 1st I thought of saying, “Imagine being told your house of faith isn’t safe anymore.”

Ocasio-Cortez’ comments almost immediately drew backlash on Twitter given that the attack was in another country where the NRA isn’t present.

But this was also an attack unimaginable in a country with strong gun laws, whereas this shooting would be tied for just the second biggest massacre in America, all of which came in the last two years.

Ocasio-Cortez is a divisive figure in the U.S.; every tweet seems to be ripe for attack from conservatives. But the Second Amendment is one of the most divisive issues in American politics today. Gun advocates cling fiercely to their firearms; gun control advocates push the government to place more restrictions on them.

In a manifesto attributed to the New Zealand shooter, the division over gun access in the U.S. is specifically mentioned as a conflict worth stoking,

While the so-called manifesto is a rambling, unhinged work, full of cynicism and irony that mocks a horrified public and a media required to pay attention, the writer points back to the political division over gun rights several times.

If the manifesto is to be believed, the shooter took a particular interest in American political division and drops several breadcrumbs—like mentioning his admiration for President Donald Trump and other figures on the right—indicating an intent to inflame that division.

As of this writing, 49 people have died in the attack, and the shooter was apprehended.

Ellen Ioanes is the FOIA reporter at the Daily Dot, where she covers U.S. politics. She is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School, and her work has appeared in the Guardian, the Center for Public Integrity, HuffPost India, and more.